1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an induction heating cooker for heating food using an electromagnetic induction method. In particular, the invention relates to an induction heating cooker by which discharge capability and cooling performance can be improved.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, induction heating cookers employing an induction heating method has gained popularity as a future cooking appliance, because its stability and economical efficiency is excellent as compared with a conventional cooling appliance such as a gas stove. Such an induction heating cooker is a cooking appliance using direct heating method. In such a case, when Alternating Current (AC) is applied to an induction heating coil in an induction oven, a magnetic field is produced to induce an eddy current effect on the bottom of a vessel (e.g., a receptacle containing iron ingredients) placed at the center of the magnetic field and to generate heat.
Referring to FIG. 1, a set of cooker with four induction heating (IH) modules is generally employed as the aforementioned induction heating cooker. Referring again to FIG. 1, the conventional induction heating cooker with four IH modules is modularized, to maximize common use of its internal parts, in such a manner that two burners 104 and 102 installed at the front and rear of the right side and two burners 103 and 101 installed at the front and rear of the left side are placed in the same spaces within the cooker.
Further, induction heating modules, a blowing fan 105 and a heat sink 106, both of which are used for cooling the modules, are installed below a region between a pair of burners 102 and 104 and a pair of burners 101 and 103.
However, there is a problem in the conventional induction heating cooker thus configured in that its cooling efficiency is reduced in case the conventional blowing fan 105 of small capacity and the heat sink 106 are used as before to cool the four induction heating modules.
A large quantity of blowing air is required if the four induction heating modules are to be effectively cooled. Thus, in order to satisfy the above requirements, a relatively larger blowing fan 105 and a heat sink 106 should be installed. There is another problem in that the degree of freedom in which internal parts are installed and the efficiency in which the internal parts are commonly used are reduced. There is still another problem in that overall size of the cooker is unnecessarily increased.
There is still further problem in that since the four induction heating modules are installed in the same chamber, the heating efficiency is decreased by frequency interference produced when the four induction heating modules are simultaneously operated.